Job training videos are a familiar sight for anyone who’s had to deal with heavy machinery or work for a large corporation. Occasionally they try to be particularly memorable by incorporating violence.
“Shake Hands With Danger” is a famed example from Caterpillar. Warning for those who are particularly squeamish: there’s a lot of suggestive violence in there, because it’s meant to scare people away from losing limbs and lives around heavy machinery.
Of course, some Germans had to take it one step further, and produce Staplefahrer Klaus (in English, Forklift Driver Klaus). It’s a parody of job training videos made in 2000 by some people who effectively put it together as a student film project. Some of them had worked on television or film projects before, but for the most part it was created by amateurs.
Amateurs with a twisted sense of humor. They weren’t alone, however. The short film won multiple international awards, from people who had apparently seen one too many training videos at their job sites.
This Night Owl isn’t for people who are especially squeamish, but it’s certainly odd and, in reality, it does exactly what training videos are supposed to do: it reminds people to stay safe around dangerous equipment in a way that is unabashedly memorable.
For the nightly discussion topic… how about just posting up an interesting video and seeing what others might have to say about it?
